And The Winner Is…

We here at The Journal have an important announcement to make, and that announcement has to do with the William Allen Creative Nonfiction Prize. Our judge, Robin Hemley, had an exceptionally difficult time choosing the winner, seeing as there were so many fine essays. But in the end he selected Connie Vaughn’s essay, “Finding Oz,” as the champion.

And this is what Mr. Hemley has to say about “Finding Oz”:
“One of the things I admired about ‘Finding Oz’ was its technical control. I also admired the subtle turns in the piece and the way in which it combined research with a personal narrative, how it went from a public/personal disaster to a story about a father/daughter relationship. Really a strong piece!”

The Journal would like to congratulate Connie Vaughn on her wonderful essay. We would also like to congratulate the seven finalists, and two honorable mentions of this year’s creative nonfiction contest.

Honorable Mention:
Deborah Thompson, “The Half-life of Hope”
Ashley McCullough, “Zero Tolerance

Finalists:
Jean Braithwaite, “Time Slices: My Body Fat and Thin”
Joseph L. Ozment, “A Moment in Time”
Sunshine O’Donnell, “Placement”
Gwen Weerts, “The Greatest Show on Earth”
Elizabeth Browne, “Nonpersons”
Edgar Martinez Schulz, “Thanksgiving”
Andrew D. Cohen, “7G”

We would like to thank all of the writers who entered this year’s William Allen Creative Nonfiction Prize, and encourage you to enter next year’s contest as well.

And just as a side note, May 1st is the deadline for The Journal’s Short Story Prize judged by the venerable Lee K. Abbott.